The First Rainham Youth Football League Champions

Young, talented and successful, Rainham Youth Football team had it all during 1967/68 and experienced a very successful season as the first Rainham champions of the Medway Minor League which only operated as one division at under 18 level compared with the vast range of divisions and age ranges that exist today.

Playing at Rainham Recreation Ground on Sunday mornings in a strip of white shirts, black shorts and white socks, the team had considerable local support with big crowds turning up to watch home matches. Going through the entire season undefeated in the league, the team only dropped one point in a 2-2 draw with Upchurch early in the season but were able to hold off a strong challenge from their local opponents until they met again at the end of the season. The Rainham youngsters outplayed their opponents in their final match of the campaign to win 4-1 and take the championship. This avenged a 3-0 defeat which Upchurch had earlier inflicted on the Rainham youngsters in the League Cup at Upchurch.

Graham Knight of Gillingham FC

Rainham Youth also did well against the men in the Medway Sunday League Cup by defeating Division 1 side Woodfield 6-0 in the second round but were eliminated by premier team Strand Athletic 6-3 in a hard fought third round match. They also did well in the Kent Minor Cup until they were defeated 4-2 by Gravesend team Riverside on a very small pitch in the quarter finals. Upchurch went on to win the Kent Minor Cup and the League Cup as the two local clubs totally dominated boy’s football in the Medway and Sittingbourne areas.

Rainham had an array of talented players which included Graham Knight who went on to play for Gillingham as a professional and he still lives in Rainham. He played his entire career for Gillingham after one season with Rainham Youth, making 274 first team appearances and scoring 10 goals as a full back for ‘The Gills’ from 1968 to 1979. Dave Pullen and John Higginson of Rainham Youth also played with him for Gillingham Youth team. David Wood played in goal for Rainham Youth, defenders included Graham Smith, Brian Puplett and Trevor Moore, midfielders Brian Perkins and John Higginson, forwards Terry Arnold, Ray Heath, Dave Pullen, Jack Barlow and Chris Tong. Several people helped organise the team including Len Harrison from Station Road who was usually on hand to offer help and advice. Players who later performed for the team at senior level in the Medway Sunday League included Geoff Stone, Denis Chambers, Les Woolley, Mick Arnold, Martin Cogger, Andy Findlay and Howard School PE teacher Mr Clark.

After winning the Medway Minor League the team got admittance to Division Five of the Medway Sunday League which they won in their first season and were then placed in Division One where they competed and challenged for promotion in successive seasons but just failed to get into the premiership before breaking up. Most of the original team re-formed during the mid-1970s to become Rainham Social Club FC and went on to become very successful in the Medway Sunday League.

History Articles

Rainham in the late 18^th Century

During the later years of the 18^th century Rainham, which formed part of the Manor of Milton, was little more than a linear village located along the present day high street surrounded by orchards and populated by about 700 people who were mainly employed on local farms. Edward Hasted described Rainham in ‘The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Volume 6’ in 1798:

‘Rainham has become since the eighth of Elizabeth, a neat and agreeable village, the high road from London to Dover running through the main street, which contains several handsome houses, and one or two good inns.’

The main populated part of 18^th century Rainham was situated on fairly high ground but the lower part with its marshes had a reputation as being an unhealthy part of the parish because of ague, a form of malaria spread by mosquitoes that caused people catching it to suffer from high fever. The residents of nearby low lying parishes like Upchurch and Lower Halstow suffered so badly from it during the 18^th century that the clergy refused to live there for fear of catching it. Hasted described the effects of ague in the following way:

‘…the severe agues which the inhabitants are very rarely without, whose complexions become of a dingy yellow colour, and if they survive, are generally afflicted with them till summer, and often for several years, so that it is not unusual to see a poor man, his wife and whole family of five or six children hovering over their fire in their hovel, shaking with ague all at the same time.’

The church continued to dominate the village centre although on 20^th October 1791 lightning struck the steeple of the chancel causing severe damage by splitting the wall. Although the building generally remained in good condition the Tufton family became concerned about dampness that had got into the family vault and had begun to rot the coffins kept there. The family approached Reverend Richards on the matter.

Reverend James Richards served as vicar of the church from 1777 until the later years of the century and resided at the vicarage a bit farther along the road on the opposite side. The vicarage had been constructed very close to the parsonage. Why was a parsonage and vicarage built so close together in the same parish? Late local historian Freddie Cooper noted the reason in his article ‘Rainham Vicarage and Parsonage.’ He wrote that in 1536 when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries he confiscated all their properties which included the church and parsonage in Rainham. In later times the parsonage was leased out to private individuals which left the vicar without a residence so in 1677 parishioners raised money and a vicarage was constructed a short distance away for the vicar to reside in. Sir Edward Dering owned the parsonage valued at £200 per annum during the late 18^th century.

Sir Edward Dering

Rainham High Street would have been quieter and less busy in the late 18^th century than at present with horses and carts travelling along the road and periodic horse drawn coaches passing in each direction from London and Dover, leaving wheel tracks and horse droppings on the dirt road surface. Horse drawn coaches stopped at the White Horse and the Rosary & Cricketers Inn for passengers, hay carts and the occasional flock of sheep or cattle accompanied by a shepherd or farm worker may also have periodically passed along the road.

At the Sittingbourne end of the high Street ‘The Lion Inn’ existed along with a big house owned by John Russell from Greenwich. The hamlet of Moor Street existed just beyond Rainham High Street where some of the houses were very old like East Moor Street Cottages which dated from the 15^th century.

Although much of the land was owned by the Earl of Thanet, farmer William Wakeley occupied Westmoor Farm while Thomas Wakeley leased Parsonage Farm in central Rainham and Otterham Marsh in Lower Rainham. William Dodd occupied Cozenton Farm with an orchard and meadow while Bloor’s Place, located just off the lower road, was owned by the Earl of Thanet and occupied by Mrs Smart. According to Hasted the old farmhouse at Bloor’s Place which had housed members of the gentry for several centuries had been named after a gentleman named William Bloor but had been pulled down to make way for a new building.

A variety of people populated Rainham during the later years of the 18^th century. Thomas Ashdown and William Foster worked as husbandmen, John Marsh worked as a surgeon, Joseph Knight a brickmaker, Nicholas Webb, John Finch, Henry Baker and John Ripley were malsters and Henry Elvy a victualler. Farmers included William Wakeley, Thomas Wakeley, Edward Dodd, William Gilbert and William Pell, while yeomen or small farmers included John Butler, Thomas Lake, John Rains, John Miles, John Packman, Thomas Raynor and Samuel Smith.

One of the biggest events to take place in Rainham which drew a large crowd at the close of the 18^th century was the funeral of the honourable John Tufton, son of the 8th^th Earl of Thanet who died on 27^th May 1799 aged 26 and was buried in the family vault in St Margaret’s church. Although he had not resided in Rainham his family owned a large amount of land in the parish. He became Member of Parliament for Appleby in 1796 and won fame as a cricketer for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He scored 1,049 runs for the club with a highest score of 61 and he took 14 first class wickets. He also became the first cricketer to be given out lbw in a first class game. John Tufton’s death followed an earlier family tragedy when his younger brother Willliam aged eight drowned while bathing in 1786 and his body was also placed in the family vault in Rainham.

The poor of Rainham requiring regular relief totalled 36 people in 1798 and these were looked after by the parish who bought two houses for some of them to live in. These became known as ‘poor houses.’ The poor also had access to five acres of land from the village charities planted with just over two acres of cherries, an acre of pears, an acre of apples and an acre of woodland. Because of the seasonal nature of agriculture and adverse weather conditions, farm workers were susceptible to periods of unemployment, particularly during the winter months, some needed relief from the parish and most lived at subsistence level for most of their lives.

According to Hasted’s 1798 study of Kent the land surrounding Rainham was fertile and suitable for growing corn and fruit and produced some of the best wheat in England. Cherries and apples had earlier been produced just off the high street but Hasted noted that in the closing years of the 18^th century these were no longer being grown.

 The Cricketers Inn known as the ‘Rosary & Cricketers’ during the 18^th century existed in the high street and became the first pub in Kent to be given a name connected with cricket. It had a big lawn at the back with stables and the building is believed to have dated from the 15^th century and probably had a connection with the church in its early days because of its close proximity. The White Horse pub whose sign represents loyalty to the 18^th century House of Hanover existed on the corner of White Horse Lane (now Station Road) with a stable for horses but Macklands estate which included a house, owned by the Chatham Charity of the Chest and occupied by a Mrs Nash was the only house situated in the White Horse Lane area. The remainder of the land comprised of orchards and fields from the high street down to the lower road.

The Manor of Queens court and Berengrave Farm existed in the area now known as Tufton Road and Berengrave Lane. Berengrave Farm included a paddock and a house occupied by John Fowle. Woodland with ponds and pathways covered a large part of the area stretching to the present day Station Road.

Finally, Siloam Farm, owned by the Earl of Thanet, existed at the top end of the present day Mierscourt Road with a large amount of arable land. The Manor of Mere incorporated much of the land located in Meresborough, owned by the Earl of Aylesford during the 18^th century. Extensive woods covered the land now occupied by the Parkwood Estate and these stretched across Wigmore to Rainham Mark. In total 540 acres of woodland existed out of 2,100 acres of land in the parish.

Although Rainham served as a small linear village on the London to Dover road it gradually expanded over the following hundred years to become the biggest village in the area.

John Tufton as a boy playing with his dog. Tufton became a well known cricketer and Member of Parliament and is interned in Rainham church painted by the famous 18th century painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.

History Articles

The Rainham ‘Bug Hutch’

Originally constructed as a Salvation Army hall, the Royal cinema which could seat 395 people opened on 25th October 1920 as a new location of entertainment in Rainham. In the early years it showed black and white films with a basic projector and proved popular at a time when TV didn’t exist.

In 1947 the cinema experienced a serious fire but it survived then in 1956 it was updated with ‘CinemaScope,’ an amorphic lens for shooting wide screen movies. This allowed a better quality image with stereophonic sound to be projected. Sandwiched between Pullen’s seed shop on the right and an estate agent’s named Harris & Bone on the left, the cinema’s entry point could be found on the right side and the screen at the high street end of the building. Compared with other cinemas the Royal was basic without a balcony area or a cafeteria. From the entry point a narrow corridor led to a very small box office where a ticket could be purchased from a lady named Joyce then entry into the auditorium immediately to the left. Pushy teenagers made for the back rows where they could snog with their girlfriends, smoke or just chat with their friends. The building became commonly known as the ‘Bug hutch’ although it wasn’t exactly a flea pit as it had a reasonably clean and comfortable interior.

Photo of Bug Hutch, Rainham - The Royal Cinema

On Saturday mornings during the 1950s and early 1960s local children packed the cinema to watch cartoon films and American serials like ‘Flash Gordon.’ As they cheered, banged the seats and threw balls of paper the programme continued unabated to the end, all in good fun, of course. I only attended a handful of times then got sick of the noise and began attending the Saturday morning sessions at the Odeon in Gillingham which proved to be less noisy in more spacious surroundings.

The Saturday afternoon matinee followed the children’s morning session, attended mainly by teenagers who turned up to watch a blockbuster film of the day. For a small admission fee they could watch a cartoon, a preview of future films, Pathe News and a full length film, sometimes two films.

Apart from the projectionist the Royal was almost entirely overseen by an ageing lady with tightly permed grey hair who worked as an usherette. I believe she lived in Orchard Street and constantly moaned at the youth, often shouted at them and occasionally threw them out if they misbehaved. Using a small torch she showed customers to their seats and occasionally served tickets in the box office. I remember attending as a boy and joining an irate crowd of youngsters queuing and pushing outside the cinema until almost the starting time of the film. The usherette turned up very late to a scene of chaos, she sorted everyone into an orderly line before opening the doors and then made everyone line up in a regimented fashion to buy tickets which she served. On another occasion the projector broke down in the early part of a film which at first caused disappointment then a complete riot. The usherette lost control in a crescendo of whistling, shouting and heckling then after a long delay the projectionist eventually announced that the problem couldn’t be fixed and everyone had to leave the cinema but at least they had the entry fee refunded.

Saturday afternoon attracted large audiences, particularly during the winter months when adverse weather prevented youngsters from doing very much. During the 1960s when I attended I saw films such as Pinnochio, Son of Paleface, Ice Cold in Alex, Guns at Batasi, Goldfinger and Zulu.

Eventually, audiences began to diminish and although new seating was installed in later years, the owner Mrs Gass, decided to sell up and retire. The cinema closed immediately after the screening of Cat Ballou starring Lee Marvin on March 5^th 1966 after 43 years in existence. Other local cinemas like The Gaumont closed in 1961, the Odeon (Gillingham) in 1977 and the Plaza in 1980.

After closure the boarded up cinema stood empty for a while then builders turned it into Vye & Sons supermarket. These days the building is the location of Lukehurst’s furniture shop and the roof is the only recognisable part of the original cinema that remains.

This comment was received from David Stevens: ""Parker's" was the name of the shop near the bus stop to the right of the bug hutch cinema. Parker's shop sold sweets, tobacco products (I think), and other items I can't remember. The brown and white (Chatham Traction Company) double decker buses would come up Station Road from their terminus, and turn right and then stop at the bus stop near Parker's. Some of the green and white (Maidstone & District) double deckers would follow the same route, but others would come straight through from the Sittingbourne/Faversham region to the east (?).

Grays bicycle shop was to the left of the bughutch and a seed merchant to the right. Lemonade 6 pence a bottle with 2 pence on return. They also sold toys and more importantly ice cream delivered first after the war once a week and we used to go and queue early to avoid disappointment. Ice cream in blocks and everyone watched closely to make sure they did not short change you as they sliced it. Whittaker's on the right going down Station Road also sold fizzy drinks - their specialty was a 5-6 ounce, home-made, frozen ice lolly made from Coca-Cola or Tizer ("the Appetizer"). That seed shop next to the bug hutch was Pullen's I think..

Photo of the Liptons supermarket in the early 1970s.

Harris and Bone estate agents looking towards Liptons formerly Bug Hutch

History Articles

Sir Cecil Wakeley – Famous Surgeon

A long standing Rainham family, the Wakeley’s have produced numerous well-known people over the years including cricketer Richard Mansfield Wakeley, local preacher Thomas Stanley Wakeley, national rose grower William Wakeley and more recently international fashion designer Amanda Wakeley. Sir Cecil Wakeley also became very well-known and respected in the medical profession as a top class surgeon.

Born into a large family on 5^th May 1892 at Meresborough House in Rainham, Sir Cecil had a quiet country life as a child, an early interest in horse riding and he owned his own pony. In 1904 he attended King’s School Rochester but his education was interrupted in 1906 when he contracted pneumonia but he survived after being seriously ill. He then continued his education at Dulwich College after his family moved to the area in 1907. After he left school in 1910 he entered King’s College Hospital in London with whom he maintained a life-long connection and qualified as a surgeon.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1915 as a surgeon lieutenant, serving aboard the hospital ship Garth Castle at Scapa Flow where the only major naval conflict of the First World War took place. When the First World War finished he maintained his links with the navy. Firstly, he became a consultant then Rear–Admiral Surgeon at the Royal Naval hospital at Haslar near Portsmouth.

Photo of Sir Cecil Wakeley – Famous Surgeon

His career had numerous successes starting with his acceptance at King’s College Hospital to work as a surgeon in 1922 followed by promotion to senior surgeon. He then became consultant to the Belgrave Hospital for Children, the Royal Masonic and the Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases. He later became member of the Council of King’s College and then he served as president from 1949 to 1954. He also became President of the Association of Physiotherapy, the Hunterian Society, the Medical Society of London and the Royal Life Saving Society. He also served as an examiner for the Primary and Final Fellowship exams as well as for medical degrees at various universities in the UK and overseas.

In other areas Sir Cecil became a Hunterian orator, Hunterian professor and an Erasmus Wilson, Bradshaw and Thomas Vicary Lecturer. He became Chairman of the Trustees of the Hunterian Collection and received the College’s Gold Medal for his services. He also received various honours including the Order of the Nile in 1936, he was made Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1941. He also became Knight of the Order of the British Empire and received the Legion of Merit from the USA in 1946. He also received the Chevalier de la legion d’honneur from France in 1950 and he was awarded with a baronet in recognition of his work in the medical profession in 1952. Finally, he became an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

Colleagues considered Sir Cecil to be very positive with a very clear mind, a very affable and cheerful individual with great powers of observation. He never forgot a face and liked to give encouragement and advice to those around him. He was also a very efficient surgeon who carried out operations very quickly and meticulously.

Throughout his life Sir Cecil remained a devout churchman who became President of the Bible League and followed in the footsteps of his father Percy Wakeley who preached at Providence Chapel in Orchard Street and his grandfather Thomas Stanley Wakeley who became an ardent and well-known Rainham churchman and Baptist preacher during the second half of the 19^th century.

Sir Cecil presided over the Lord’s Day Observance Society and became the author of various medical textbooks and edited Rose and Carless. He also edited theBritish Journal of Surgery and he founded the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He also edited the Medical press and circular.

In 1925 Sir Cecil married Elizabeth Muriel Nicholson-Smith in Lewisham and they had three sons. John and Richard entered the medical profession while William got involved in the farming business ‘Wakeley Brothers’ in Rainham and he still lives in Hartlip. Sir Cecil’s granddaughter Amanda, daughter of his son John, became a famous fashion designer from the 1990s onwards and was awarded an OBE for her contribution to fashion in 2010.

In 1975 Sir Cecil celebrated his golden wedding anniversary with his wife. At retirement age he maintained connections with the medical world and he also got involved in local activities such as opening village fetes. He eventually died in Chatham on June 5^th 1979 aged 87 after a long and highly successful life.

Photo of Amanda Wakeley, daughter of his son John, became a famous fashion designer from the 1990s onwards and was awarded an OBE for her contribution to fashion in 2010

History Articles

Photo of the Style and Winch pub The Bredhurst Bell in around 1910. Style and Winch were a local Maidstone brewery and many local Medway and Maidstone pubs sold their ales.

The licencees name above the door is James Monday. In the early years of the 20th century pubs were only allowed to sell alcoholic drinks to travellers on a Sunday. A traveller was defined as someone who had walked at least 3 miles. It is possible that this rule was part of the Defence of the Realm act introduced during the First World War.

Bredhurst Bell customers in early 1900s. The pub sold Style and Winch fine ales

History Articles

The Unsolved Wigmore Murder of 1965

Cambridge Road in Wigmore is usually a very quiet and peaceful area where nothing much of great consequence happens, but in April 1965 the local newspapers reported an event that sent a feeling of revulsion and a shiver of fear down the spines of local residents and shook the Medway area.

 A 77 year old widow named Florence Lewis heard a knock on the front door of her bungalow on a Saturday evening just before Easter and she opened it to investigate. Unfortunately, she had made a fatal error and a short while later she was dead. It’s unknown if she knew the person who had knocked or what motive that person had but whoever it was and whatever they wanted no mercy was shown for Mrs Lewis who was known in the area as a friendly and unobtrusive lady. Unfortunately, as a pensioner living alone the criminal may have thought she had a lot of money stashed away and could have viewed her as a soft target.

The murderer, once in the bungalow, shut the door and battered the old lady to death with unbelievable brutality, repeatedly and callously striking her with a heavy object on her head. The police estimated that 14 blows were delivered which left Mrs Lewis dying in an armchair. The murderer then escaped without leaving a single clue and disappeared into the night without being seen by anyone.

Mrs Lewis wasn’t found until the following Monday lunchtime when insurance agent Roy Bishop discovered her corpse in an armchair covered in blood. Whatever had happened in the short meeting between Mrs Lewis and her murderer is unknown but the killer had obviously gone into a killing frenzy as the bloody condition of his victim showed that a vicious attack had taken place.

Detective Chief Superintendent Arthur Hall who led the investigation said at the time that it could take weeks to find the murderer but after a massive investigation which included the searching of every garden in Cambridge Road, the combing of local woods and the interviewing of more than 7,000 people, the crime has remained unsolved and the murderer free.

The police checked all of Medway’s laundries with the hope of finding blood-stained clothes belonging to the murderer. They also looked for the murder weapon which they suspected as being a heavy hammer or poker but they remained empty handed after a long and meticulous search.

The only clue about who did the murder arose in the week after the event when two people said they saw a man and then a woman call at Mrs Lewis’s house a short time apart at about 8-30 p.m. They also said they saw a small grey van in the vicinity. Confusion was also added to the case when three other people said they saw Mrs Lewis being driven in a car on the Sunday afternoon after the estimated time of her death.

At Mrs Lewis’s funeral 18 days later detectives swooped on Gillingham cemetery to check on everyone entering and leaving in case the murderer had attended but they failed to find a suspect. During the following weeks the police continued interviewing neighbours but they came up with nothing. An appeal was made by the police on national TV and the case was also broadcast on the TV programme ‘Police Five’ but although a large number of people phoned in with information it led to nothing.

Finally, the Northeast Kent coroner Mr W J Harris wound up the case in June 1965 by announcing a verdict of murder by a person or persons unknown. In one of the most despicable and brutal crimes committed in the Rainham and Wigmore areas the killer has remained free for almost fifty years, barring death, and the case remains open.

History Articles

Richard Wakeley and the Founding of Rainham Cricket Club in 1856

Born at Moor Street Farm in 1832, Richard Mansfield Wakeley entered the family farming business and became the farm manager during the 1850s. He also excelled as a cricketer and played for Gore Court at their old Bell Road ground in Sittingbourne from 1855 to 1856. He left the Sittingbourne club in 1856 and with the assistance of fellow Rainham farmer Thomas Dodd, gathered together a group of interested local Rainham men, trained them in the art of cricket and formed Rainham Cricket Club. The players were drawn from different occupations and backgrounds.

Thomas Stanley Wakeley worked as a corn merchant, James Atkins, a malster, William Burley, a tailor, William Moss, a grocer and draper, Charles Rich, James Mansfield, Thomas Dodd, Edward Dodd and James Miles, farmers and George Dodd and John Stevens, farm workers. All these men resided in Rainham.

James Miles, the owner of Siloam Farm in Rainham allowed the newly formed club the use of his meadow, situated in Chapel Lane (now Mierscourt Road) opposite the present day Primary school and this became known as ‘James Miles Meadow.’ According to the ‘East Kent Gazette’ dated July 18th 1857, Rainham Cricket Club awarded him a silver cup at one of their quarterly meetings with the inscription:

Presented to Mr. J Miles, by the members of the Rainham Cricket Club, for his kindness in allowing them the use of his meadow. July 1857.

A photograph of the cup still hangs on the wall of the present Rainham clubhouse. The actual cup was brought to the ground in 1957 during the club’s centenary season (celebrated one year late) by James Miles grandson. From that time until recently the cup remained in the vault of the Midland Bank in Rainham but when the bank closed the cup went missing and has not been traced.

 It isn’t clear how long Rainham Cricket club played at Siloam Farm but they had stopped playing there by 1883 when the owner James Miles sold the farm. The club then had to play on numerous grounds, including Berengrove Park by courtesy of Mr. William Walter the owner until a permanent venue at Rainham Recreation Ground was obtained in 1890. When Richard Wakeley junior took possession of Siloam Farm the club returned there for several seasons during the period 1902 to 1910.

According to the ‘Rochester Gazette’ dated July 8^th 1856, the first match involving Rainham Cricket Club took place against the Angel Club Strood on Wednesday July 2nd 1856 at Siloam Farm and after a close game they lost. They played other local clubs in the area and these included Gore Court, Milton, Selling, Throwley and the Star Club Rochester. After home matches the teams went to the ‘White Horse’ pub in Rainham High Street for tea and entertainment provided by the publican and host Mr. Conningsby whose name also appeared on some scorecards.

Richard Wakeley became the team captain in 1856 and stood out in the side as an all-rounder. He took five wickets in the club’s first game against the Angel Club Strood. He also helped to build up the strength of the club until Rainham became one of the strongest clubs in the area by the end of the decade.

Richard Wakeley played regularly during the 1850s before going to the Royal College of Agriculture in Cirencester where he represented the college cricket team. Unfortunately, without his services and influence Rainham deteriorated in strength during the 1860s. After his marriage in Cirencester in 1867 he returned to Rainham where he maintained his links with the club up to his death in 1907 both as a player then as a vice-president. Two of his sons Seymour and Richard Mansfield Wakeley junior later played for the club.

Apart from his cricketing ability Richard Wakeley had strong religious convictions and served as pastor at Providence Chapel in Orchard Street which his family had built. He also served as a local politician and a Guardian of the Parish. According to his obituary in the ‘East Kent Gazette’ in September 1907 he remained a kind hearted and generous benefactor to the people of Rainham during his lifetime. In his later years he wrote a book entitled ‘Gathered Fragments,’ a profile of his brother Thomas Stanley Wakeley.

As a farmer and employer in the parish Richard Wakeley became very well-known and instrumental in the establishment of ‘Wakeley Brothers’ fruit and hop growing business which existed until recently in the Rainham area.

League cricket didn’t exist when Rainham Cricket Club first started and it wasn’t until 1896 when the club joined the Chatham & District League that they had their first taste for one season. The games played before this were friendly social matches which usually took place on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

On August 3^rd, 1858 the ‘Kentish Gazette’ reported a match played on July 28th:

On the 28^th past a match was played between the gentlemen of Throwley and eleven of Rainham on the Belmont ground, the residence of Thomas Townsend esq, whose hospitality to the players on this and former occasions has been such as to merit their rarest acknowledgement.

As in recent times the players retired to a pub for a drink after matches and sometimes had a few too many as Richard Wakeley pointed out in his book ‘Gathered Fragments’ where he wrote that after one match near Sittingbourne during the late 1850s his brother, Thomas Stanley Wakeley, challenged the team to a race back to Rainham. With Wakeley in his personal horse and trap and the other players in a horse drawn coach the race took place which Thomas Stanley Wakeley won after which he gave the reins to his driver and then laid down in the back of the trap and fell asleep on the last part of the journey home.

Photo of TS Wakeley, Rainham Cricket Club

The Wakeley family had a big influence on Rainham Cricket Club from 1856 to 1910 with six members of their family playing and three of these R. M Wakeley, T. S. Wakeley and R. M. Wakeley Junior holding the captaincy for periods of time. They also furthered the interests of the club through the local parish council contributed a ground at Siloam Farm and maintained the pitch at Rainham Recreation Ground when the cricket club played there. Wealthy Rainham farmer Sid Callaway later patronized Rainham Cricket Club right up to the late 1980s.

The game of cricket played by Rainham in 1856 more or less resembled the game today, including the length of the wicket, the size and shape of the bats and the weight of the ball, although there were a few differences. Firstly, an over consisted of four and not six deliveries but when there was a change of bowling the new bowler was allowed to have two practice deliveries at the batsman before the statutory four deliveries in his first over. Bowlers could also bowl underarm which ceased at the end of the 19^th century.

Today, Rainham is a much bigger club than when it first formed with three teams turning out on a Saturday and two on a Sunday with an assortment of boy’s teams playing midweek. The First and Second XIs play in the Shepherd-Neame Kent County League and home matches are played at Berengrove Park.

History Articles

Sid Callaway - Millionaire Rainham Farmer

If you had walked along Rainham High Street during the 1970s and the 1980s you would at some point have passed an old unshaven man wearing a worn, creased and old fashioned grey woollen suit, a grubby shirt, a baggy cap and hobnail boots. He usually carried a sack full of oats over his shoulder to feed his horses on his land at Rainham Mark. He regularly caught the bus from outside the present day Lukehurst furniture store. Many people may have felt sorry for this old man as somebody down on his luck but in reality this was no poverty stricken individual. This was Sid Callaway, fruit farmer, millionaire and at one time the richest man in Rainham.

A humble and shy individual who lived in a big old house in Pudding Lane, Sid generally didn’t say much and got on with his life. He had been involved in fruit farming all his life and had worked hard for his father in his younger days on the family land in Rainham. His father tended to be hard on him, making him work long hours on the farm and even refused to give permission for him to marry his girlfriend Doris. Many years passed before the courting couple were able to get married.Although Sid led a very hard and spartan existence in his younger days, he lived for cricket and football and became a regular supporter of Gillingham Football Club but if they were playing away he would venture down to Rainham Recreation Ground to watch a game on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning for enjoyment.

During the cricket season Sid spent most of his free time at Berengrove Park as a player and patron of Rainham Cricket Club who he first joined in 1919 and he still holds the record for being the longest serving member of the club. Although he wasn’t a gifted cricketer he spent many years as Second XI captain and proved to be a capable catcher in the field as he possessed unusually large hands for a man of his size. He could also capably hold up one end in the lower order when batting but didn't score large amounts of runs or get many wickets. Ex- Rainham First XI captain Terry Glazier recalled that during the early 1960s when Sid had reached his mid-sixties and still turning out for the Second XI, a batsman hit a ball like a bullet to mid-off where Sid was fielding. Instinctively Sid thrust up one giant hand, the ball stuck and the batsman was dismissed.  Sid was heard to remark to the passing victim, "Not bad for a 65 year old".

Sid became wealthy during the Second World War when food became scarce leading to high prices in the markets for his fruit. After this he became super rich after selling portions of his land for building, including the site for the construction of the Howard School during the 1960s. This sudden wealth had few effects on his life as he continued to work on his land, he didn’t drink, smoke or drive and he and didn’t have any children to maintain. He gave himself very few luxuries, he used the public bus service for transport and spent time at Maidstone market every Tuesday. He travelled there with his brother and wife where he sold small amounts of farm produce taken in his brother’s vehicle to earn some pin money and where he had the chance to chat with other local farmers.

Sid had become fixed in his ways and found it difficult to change. Late local historian Freddie Cooper once asked him why he didn’t go to Australia to watch the Ashes cricket series between Australia and England but he replied that he felt that he wouldn’t fit in. Instead, he remained in Rainham where he felt comfortable and continued to spend time at Berengrove Park where he made significant financial contributions to Rainham Cricket Club. From the 1950s to the end of the 1980s he paid off club debts, he bought sight screens and gave the club money to purchase a new clubhouse in 1976. He even tried to buy Berengrove Park from the owner Colonel Iremonger during the mid-1950s but the colonel refused and sold it to Rainham builder George Ward instead. After finishing his playing days with Rainham Sid became the club president, a position he held right up to his death and he continued to patronise the club.

Being a kind-hearted man Sid tried to help people he knew in need. After one of the Rainham cricketers had experienced a particularly difficult financial period baskets of fruit and eggs began appearing on his doorstep. Although the player concerned could not identify the person everybody knew that Sid Callaway was responsible.

During the 1950s when Rainham cricketer John Richardson lost his accommodation due to the death of his employer, an old retired colonel for whom he worked as a batman (a commissioned officer’s personal servant), Sid offered him accommodation at his house in Pudding Lane. He also employed him as an odd job man on his property and as full time groundsman at Rainham Cricket Club. John Richardson lived with Sid and his wife right up to the time of their deaths. After Doris Callaway died followed by Sid in the late 1980s, John Richardson, who had become almost like a son to them, inherited much of Sid’s wealth, including his house until he also died a few years later after which the house was demolished to make way for new housing now known as ‘The Old Orchard.’

Although old Sid sometimes gave the impression of being an unfortunate and needy individual, he used his money to help others, he played a massive part in the development of Rainham Cricket Club and became a well-known resident of Rainham where he spent the whole of his long life.

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There was a serious fire in the garden of a house in Broadview Avenue junction with Orchard Street on 16th May 2014. Kent Fire and rescue arrived very quickly and were able to prevent the fire spreading any further into the house although the side of the house and windows/roof were damaged.

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A History of ‘The Three Sisters’ Public House

With the coming of the brickfields to lower Rainham in the mid-19^th century which required a large number of men to do hard physical work, the construction of The Three Sisters in 1863 came as no surprise. Throughout the second part of the 19^th century and into the 20^th century brickfield workers regularly drank in the pub and some even lodged there. This contributed regular business which is probably a major reason why the pub survived while the Anchor & Hope and the Lord Stanley at Otterham Quay eventually closed.

There are several theories about how the pub acquired its name but the exact reason is unknown. The first of these is connected with three sarsen stones which are situated at the south west corner of the pub. These mark the footpath that passes through Natal Farm. Secondly, there were once three beacons situated on the marshes to guide shipping that were known as The Three Sisters. Another theory is that the pub was named after the three Hubbard sisters who lived in a nearby cottage during the 19^th century.

George Freeman served as the first publican of the Three Sisters with his wife Ellen who originated from Ireland. In 1871 his niece Frances Sarden and a lodger named William Lacy also lived there. George Freeman’s name appears on the 1861 census list as publican of the Anchor and Hope pub in Otterham Quay where he worked before taking on The Three Sisters. By 1881 George Clark had taken over and he remained there until the 1890s. Bill Edmunds then took over with his wife Rose and two children William and Rose. Bill Edmunds, a short, stocky man with bushy black eyebrows and a mustache became well known in the area and became a prominent member of Rainham Cycle Club whose headquarters were based at the Green Lion Inn in Rainham High Street. While serving as publican at the Three Sisters he organised regular excursions to the seaside and short cycling trips for customers.

During the 1890s ‘The Jolly Brickmakers club’ became established in the pub. Members contributed money so that social trips could be organised to different locations. Many trips took place including one to Yalding in 1894. Concerts were also held at the pub in aid of needy parishioners. In August, 1899 a smoking concert raised £4 for blind parishioner Richard Turrell from Otterham Quay.

In 1900 brickfield workers like Richard Parr and Fred Wilkman lodged at the pub along with a servant named Edith Wills who helped out in the building. Landlord Bill Edmunds who had made a big contribution to the pub while managing it died prematurely from pneumonia aged 40 in 1902.

After the death of Bill Edmunds Henry Tassell took over as publican in the period leading up to the 1920s. He married the former landlord’s widow Rose and they had two children named Alec and Ethel. Alec became a well-known cricketer with Upchurch and Rainham cricket clubs and a bricklayer with E.C. Gransden Ltd. William Edmunds, son of the former publican of the same name also played cricket for Upchurch and became landlord during the 1920s. When he left Albert Roche and his wife Caroline arrived. They were succeeded by Ernie Huseman and his wife Eleanor during the 1930s and 1940s.

During the 1960s brickfield workers, foreign seamen from Otterham Quay and locals continued to patronise the pub with characters like Bill Richardson who lived nearby in a bungalow. He personally constructed it single handed over more than a decade. ‘The Keg Boys’ from Rainham with members like Stan Peace, Neville Huggins, Colin McGregor and Colin Chapman also periodically drank there along with other locals.

Robert Moulton and his wife Margaret became long serving landlords at the pub until the 1970s but with the closure of the brickfield trade from brickfield employees ceased and the pub had to rely on a hard core group of locals to keep the pub going.

One of the most popular landlords and innovators at the pub, a former talented local footballer named Mick Harris, resided there during the 1980s to the mid-1990s. A very outgoing, sometimes outspoken and lively individual, he encouraged a younger clientele with discos and music nights and proved to be a very popular landlord with large numbers of customers attending at weekends. In 1997 Sue and Graham Fry took over and they stayed until 1999.

Sally Godden who is a familiar local figure in the equestrian world now runs the pub which is known to many customers as ‘The Six Tits.’ The pub has a regular band of drinkers, it serves food and hosts regular, live weekly music with Karaoke nights. Singers and musicians like Mickey Blue Eyes, Annie Love and Lisa Mills perform there. With a main bar at the front, a functions room and a beer garden at the back, oak beams on the ceiling, an open fire in winter and pub games like pool, darts and cards, The Three Sisters remains a popular pub in the area and has developed a new image compared to the old days when it attracted brickfield workers.

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Memories by Former Pupils of Rainham Mark Grammar School

Formerly known as Gillingham Technical High School and located in Green Street Gillingham, the school moved to its Pump Lane location in January 1967 as a single sex boy’s school with about 500 pupils and 30 members of staff. Dr Robert Keen served as headmaster and worked at the school from 1964 to 1997 followed by Mr Limm. The present day headmaster is Simon Decker.

During the opening years at Pump Lane Gillingham Tech was one of only a few schools in the country with a firmly established Nuffield Physics ‘O’ level course. The engineering block was considered to be the best equipped in the school and one of only a few in Kent where Engineering ‘A’ level was taught. The school also had good sports facilities for the time which included six tennis courts, three well maintained football and hockey pitches and a cricket square.

Changes have taken place over the years with the first co-educational year being introduced in 1972. Aylward, Faraday, Newton, Rutherford and Scott were joined by Bronte in 1991. Several decades later in 2001 a new form named Pankhurst was added for certain intake years only. This happened due to an increase in the pupil population as the school became more popular in the area. Later, in 2011 the Gallagher Group constructed a new £1.65 million sports hall, something that had been needed for many years as facilities at the school improved.

A disaster took place in 2012 when a blaze destroyed the science block but fire-fighters were able to prevent an explosion which could have made matters much worse. A sinkhole also appeared on the school grounds after a prolonged period of rainfall and had to be fenced off and dealt with.

Former pupils who became well-known are John Darley, a Kent based artist who served as a prefect at the school and Phil Gallagher who is known as ‘Mister Maker’ on a BBC children’s show of the same name. Beverley Brennan attended the Royal College of Art and later became a successful painter and teacher, Liam Hodges who also went to the Royal College of Art became a fashion designer of note while Craig Mackinlay became a politician who defeated Nigel Farage in the recent General Election. In sport Stevie Searle played football for Barnet in the English Football League and Dick Tydeman who attended the school when it was known as Gillingham Tech played football for Gillingham, Charlton Athletic and Peterborough United from the early 1970s up to the mid-1980s. Ian Docker and Andy Sambrook also became professional footballers after representing England as schoolboy footballers.

Rainham Mark Grammar School has produced some very good county champion football and basketball teams over the years which has enhanced its sporting reputation while high level staff/pupil collaboration has been demonstrated with successful school theatrical productions like ‘Oh What a Lovely War,’ ‘Animal Farm,’ ‘The Crucible,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet.’

Former pupils have varied memories of Rainham Mark Grammar like Philip Bellars who studied there during the early 1990s. He rarely saw headmaster Dr Keen who he feels remained detached from the pupils and his only recollection of a meeting took place while being sick outside the school wind tunnel. The headmaster spotted him and ordered him to move away. His view is that Dr Keen oversaw a non-sporting school with poor outdated facilities although the school football teams gained a lot of success. Neither cricket nor rugby existed at the school when Philip attended although some cricket, tennis and hockey were offered in PE and games lessons. Dance classes were also held for both boys and girls which were not always popular with the boys.

Philip Bellars enjoyed Charity Week designed as an annual money raising event and remembers younger pupils paying sixth formers for a kiss. A musical show also took place at the end of the week which everyone enjoyed.

Although Philip feels that the teachers varied in popularity and ability the students were generally well behaved although he remembers many of the school textbooks being covered in rude drawings.

Musician Steve King had to travel between Rainham Mark Grammar and Chatham Grammar School for Girls with three other pupils to take ‘A’ level music because the facilities were lacking at Rainham Mark.

Steve has fond memories of his teachers like Vanessa Money and Heather Gallagher who taught music and encouraged him throughout. He also remembers deputy-head and maths teacher Eric Kitney, a keen marathon runner. He recalls eccentric Spanish and French teacher Neil Clifton who recently left the school but has returned periodically as a supply teacher. Other eccentric teachers in Steve’s view include CDT teachers Ken Boothby and Alan Thorpe who have now sadly passed on.

Steve always regarded Dr Robin Keen as a ‘hands off’ headmaster who restricted his rare appearances to the school assembly, school sports day and an annual cricket match between the staff and the pupils on the last day of the academic year. Sightings of him at other times were very rare and these became even fewer when the school obtained grant maintained status.

During the period 1987 to 1994 when he attended, Steve feels that although Rainham Mark Grammar had excellent academic results it mainly promoted science subjects and only a limited number of sports were offered with football in the winter and athletics in the summer being the main ones. Steve King, who went to Salford University, is now a well-known musician in the Medway area and beyond.

Tom Manning who attended the school during the early 1990s didn't live up to his parents’ expectations that like his sister he would become a model student, especially when Miss Timms put him on homework monitoring. Tom regarded her as a fearsome disciplinarian but complied. He suffered from what he calls a severe lack of enthusiasm about being educated.

Tom remembers headmaster Dr Keen as a person with whom he had little communication. Of his teachers he remembers Dr James Bit David an enthusiastic maths teacher and 5^th form tutor who could not communicate very well due to being Iranian and English not being his first language. He also remembers his CDT teacher Mr Thorpe, a tubby chap who mumbled a lot but who demanded perfection and did not have a lot of patience and Mr Boothby who could be identified by his wild uncombed hair.

Tom recalls his three German teachers beginning with Mr Webster. He viewed Mrs Cooper as an elegant lady who gave interesting lessons and drove an old Citroen car but he thought Mrs Gardener an impatient teacher who he frequently riled by giving her Nazi salutes. On the other hand, he thought his geography teacher Mrs Humphreys a bit of a hippy but a good teacher. Mrs Humphrey’s predicted that Tom would get a poor ‘A’ level grade. It turned out to have the opposite effect as it motivated him to study hard and get a good grade.

Mr Lawrenson turned out to be a superb economics teacher for Tom who always enjoyed his lessons, mainly because he was able to discuss cricket and football with him. They once played cricket against each other in the annual Staff v Pupils match at the end of the academic year.

Tom admits that he played tricks on Mr Wells, a very short economics teacher who other pupils also enjoyed playing tricks on like putting the blackboard wiper and other items on top of the door frame so that he couldn't reach which caused laughter. Tom feels that the school maintained a good reputation for academic results with improvements taking place to the science building while the PE department remained limited in what it offered. His only fear while at Rainham Mark Grammar occurred when walking home as he had to be alert and aware of Howard School pupils waiting to ambush him in the street.

Jim Wallace noticed one teacher as being a bit out of the ordinary when he described maths teacher Mrs Lythgoe as a very small lady who rode a massive motorbike on which she wore a full set of leathers which caught the attention of many pupils.

Former pupils can also recall memorable incidents involving their teachers like Michelle Simpson who remembers art teacher Mr Lydon walking into the hall door and knocking himself out which resulted in him missing a GCSE art lesson. Lisa O’Brian recalls Mr Humphries suddenly instructing the whole class to put up their hands while he walked around the classroom saying “keep them up.” Puzzled by this Lisa and her classmates noticed Dr Keen walk past the classroom with a group of parents who were being shown around the school. After they had passed Mr Humphries instructed the pupils to put their hands down and continued the lesson which caused amusement.

Keely Howard recalls the day when Mr Turner turned up late to assembly then had the embarrassment of sitting down on a chair which collapsed, probably something Mr Turner would like to forget but something Keely Howard has always remembered.

Overall, former pupils of Rainham Mark Grammar have positive memories of their teachers with Jim Wallace referring to Mrs Lythgoe as ‘a top teacher.’ Michelle Simpson calls Mr McCarthy ‘an inspirational teacher’ and Andy Morgan says of his maths teacher Mr Kitney that without his assistance he would never have passed his GCSE maths exam.

Rainham Mark Grammar School which has had very impressive academic results over the years and has produced a wide range of successful people in many fields of work remains a highly regarded school in the Medway area.

Some photos of the classes of 1982 at RMGS - actually from the photos pupils are still wearing their blazers with the GTHS logos on despite the class board showing Rainham Mark Grammar School.

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The Quest for a Catholic Church in Rainham

Four centuries after Henry VIII’s break with Rome and nearly 40 years of hard work and organisation during the first half of the 20^th century, the dream of a Catholic church eventually became reality for the Rainham Catholic community in 1958.

During the 1920s services were held at the Rainham Brotherhood Hall situated in Church Lane close to St Margaret’s church in Rainham High Street. An estimated congregation of about 50 people regularly attended Sunday morning Mass. The rent cost about 15p a week and Father Gerald Quinn, assistant priest at Gillingham Catholic Church organised everything, but the Rainham Catholic community were keen to move away and have a hall of their own.

The first stage of getting a permanent and suitable base began when the Diocesan Trustees bought a plot of land on a site adjacent to the London Road, the old medieval pilgrimage route from London to Canterbury for £270 with help from the parish of Gillingham in 1921.

 When presiding Rainham priest Father McMahon retired communication between Father Gerald Quinn from Gillingham and the church authorities led to permission eventually being given for the building of a parochial hall on the new site. On August 2^nd 1933 the hall with a capacity for 160 people became reality. The building served as a temporary church. Bishop Amigo opened it on November 10^th 1934.

The Catholic community immediately set to work organising fund raising events through a newly elected social committee. Although weekly collections were only £1, whist drives were held and raffles took place while coach trips were arranged to the coast and other local locations during the summer months to raise funds for the new church.

By 1951 congregations had risen to 237 and a new fund raising scheme was introduced for finances to build a new church. To raise money a Catholic football pool and a Mile of Pennies scheme were set up. Such were the efforts that £158 8s 0d had been raised by October 1953.

On November 14^th 1954 the parishes of Rainham and Gillingham held a social event to help boost funds to build a new church and school in Rainham. On the same evening a final decision was made to go ahead with the building of a church. A social club and a youth club were formed about the same time.

Dances held in the parochial hall proved to be a great success attracting people from far and wide. Bricks were sold for the new church at about 15p each after Sunday Masses. Rainham members of the Medway Catholic Women’s Guild made vestments for the new church and took it so seriously that they attended a course at the Medway College of Art in Rochester to ensure that they provided a high quality product.

Eduardo Dodds became the architect entrusted with designing the new church then on April 21^st 1956 tenders for the building were revealed. Of seven local companies J H Durrant of Strood had their tender accepted and construction got underway in the Autumn of 1956 when the foundations of the church were dug and the brickwork begun. Although a crisis regarding finances arose at one stage a solution was eventually found and the building, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury, continued and became the only Catholic church to be constructed in the diocese at that time. With all the trials and tribulations involved in the construction with regard to finances, the ‘Laying of the Foundation Stone’ took place with Bishop Cyril Cowderoy directing the proceedings on December 29^th 1956.

The new church had an interesting design in the modern idiom with beautiful carvings and statuary completed by Michael Clark FRBS who became President of the Royal Academy of Art. The church also acquired his ‘14 Stations of the Cross’ and the canonical erection of this took place on November 19^th 1958. A statue of St Thomas of Canterbury, a gift presented to the church by Father Scott, was placed in front of the organ where it could be seen by members of the congregation leaving the church.

The church ceramics were designed by Adam Kossowski. These included a figure of St Joseph seated with the child Jesus. In the Lady Chapel angels were set against a background of blue tiles. A colourful depiction of the murder of St Thomas of Canterbury above the main entrance of the church is unique although Reverend Trew of Upchurch wrote in his short history of Upchurch church in 1911 that a fresco of St Thomas of Canterbury existed on the wall of the Lady Chapel of Upchurch church until it was whitewashed over after repairs.

The official opening of St Thomas of Canterbury Church took place on April 28^th 1958 although the consecration of the building did not happen until June 11^th 1970. A decision had been made to pay off all the debts for the building before the event could took place.

Photo of St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church, Rainham, Kent

Father Swinton continued as the parish priest and he remained until 1961. He lived nearby in Salisbury Road. Father Petry succeeded him and stayed until 1963 then Father Gleeson arrived and served the parish for ten years.

Now a familiar and distinct landmark on the main road to Gillingham, St Thomas of Canterbury church continues to attract new members to its congregation and remains an important location in the parish. It also maintains a close connection with St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School in Romany Road and St John Fisher Catholic School in Chatham.

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